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<title>The sea and stars by A_useless_amperxand</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27724124">The sea and stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_useless_amperxand/pseuds/A_useless_amperxand'>A_useless_amperxand</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Body Horror, Horror, Original Character(s), Priests</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:09:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27724124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_useless_amperxand/pseuds/A_useless_amperxand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a priest in the church basement.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The sea and stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I slipped my way into the church, she was my respite as with many others before me, seeking shelter from the howling storms that battered the cliff that held her; this cliff cradled her as you would a child , saving her from the merciless lash of the waves. I breathed a sigh of relief as I made my way to the confessional; ready for the high of relief that would come from unburdening myself of my sins. Yet before I could enter I heard a sweet song of times long left to the mires of memory, I swayed as if caught in the hold of a strong tidal current pulled towards the stairs that led below. The smell of the briny rocks and seaweed rot that surrounded me harkened back to my day upon a vessel bound by fate to brave the tempests. My feet hit the quiet damp found when you went deep below the surface and as the dark welcomed me  the song began to rise in volume. I reached a wider room at the base of the stairs, my head filled with naught but the drip of water, swaying of tides and the echo of that glorious song. I lurched somewhat against my will, despite the fact that coherent thought was a precious commodity with my mind filled with the sound of something from my past. I hit a block. Feeling the rough grain of water soaked wood beneath my hand I tried to focus even as the song rose to a fever pitch beckoning me to open this box that contained them. I tightened my grip. Then pulled the lid off of what I realized now was a coffin, stumbling back from the force of the lid’s release. The song was silent. I then lifted my eyes as if in a trance, whilst the lid dropped from my now loose hands.</p>
<p>A corpse-pale hand gripped the edge of the salt soaked wood, as I looked along the stretched parchment skin contained within this stagnant air. When I met the lustrous orbs far above those clawed hand’s grasp, I saw the unborn truths writhe within the voiceless sea shown in those glossy dead eyes that reflected my blood-rotted soul back towards me. The smell of silver and steel rung around my head as the bells above tolled my requiem. The room began to echo as the bells continued, this ground was of naught but the sea and sky and was no place for those who dwelled on land.The astral rings spun as the sea churned in this place that was once a room. Yet it was not that the domain I found myself in had changed it was that I could finally see once more.The sunken stars shone around me as they drew me towards the blooded city which sang with the immutable reality of my earthly prison, the place that many children of the nightmares and twisted dreams had lost their sight within. My kin of the churning nightmare sang once more as I acknowledged them, calling me to return to freedom of the ascended, to embrace the sublime rapture I once knew. Then blood boiled behind the many deep eyes implanted in my skull. The dream was ending. My eyes were closing. I felt the thick red and clear fluid flow along my cheeks as I scraped at my eyes. I needed to open them again. I grasped blindly at the area around me seeking for those stars and the voiceless call of my kin and the wild sea. </p>
<p>My hands met wood. The corpse had eyes. I clawed at the face of this earth-bound child as I searched for the eyes that would grant me my sight again. I found them. My thumbs sunk into the flesh and met little resistance sinking until I could grasp those pearls and pull. I held the orbs in my hands. I cared not for the drip of fluid I could hear. I needed to return to my nightmare kin. I needed to be embraced within the deep astral sea amongst the drowned. I raised my hand to my face and ate those pills. I would return home. To the sea. Home. I opened my eyes once more. I shone with the stars. They were gentle as they told me how I should ascend. I knelt by the catalyst. Once a holy man. I once repented under his guidance. My hands found purchase. The sea and stars sang. My blood boiled. I ate. This man was an offering. I ate. I could feel my prison fade. I ate. My kin sang for me. I ate. I could see the stars again. I ate. Then. Then….<br/>I ascended.</p>
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